In a live reveal this morning at the fantastic John Basset Theatre in downtown Toronto, the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada announced the Canadian Car/Utility Vehicle of the Year.

As I have for the past number of years, I had the honour of announcing the Canadian Utility Vehicle of the Year, which for 2017 is the Subaru Forester. Program director David Taylor joined me in the announcement, by crowning the Volkswagen Alltrack the Canadian Car of the Year.

CCOTY Director David Taylor presents the Canadian Car of the Year Award to Volkswagen Canada President and CEO Maria Stenström

Since 1985, AJAC has named the Canadian Car of the Year as a tool to aid consumers who are researching a new vehicle purchase. As the program has evolved over the years, the Canadian Truck of the Year distinction was added and then morphed into the Utility title in a nod to the increasing presence of crossover vehicles into the light truck segment.

A full year of planning goes into the award each year, the highlight of which is the annual Testfest event, where Canada’s top automotive journalists spend the better part of a week evaluating vehicles. Of course the awards ceremony is the most visible and important aspect of the program, but while a week of testing cars is actually work, it is good fun too.

This was the program’s first year on the stage in the stunning John W.H. Basset theatre, having opened the show in past years, in a secondary hall in the South building of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. The announcements followed the global unveiling of Aston Martin’s stunning new AM-RB 001 concept vehicle. The combination of the two events kicked off the show in a fashion more in keeping with some of the more prominent shows on the global circuit. More on that in a story to follow.

An important part of the Canadian Car of the Year award program, the Best New Technology awards are a program to acknowledge excellence in the development of new features which are either innovative or improve driving safety.

While I am one of the co-chairman of the CCOTY program, I tend to stay away from the tech awards, mainly because I just don’t have the time to deal with another aspect of the program. Sometimes that is a shame, as there are some really cool new technologies out there that change the way we drive and the evaluation team researches them in depth.

This year’s winners are:

AJAC press release

January 19, 2017 – Montreal: Two “Best New Technology” award winners were announced today by the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC) at the Montreal International Auto Show.

BEST NEW SAFETY TECHNOLOGY for 2017
Volvo Pilot Assist II, Large Animal Detection, Run-off Road mitigation is the winner of the BEST NEW SAFETY TECHNOLOGY FOR 2017.
“Pilot Assist II is actually three systems using camera and radar technology to help keep drivers and passengers safe,” says Technology Panel Chair, Jim Kerr. “The Pilot assist feature can control acceleration, braking and steering up to 130 km/h to help keep the S90 in its lane at speed. Run off road mitigation keeps the vehicle on the road by applying braking and steering forces if an impending road departure is sensed. Large animal detection senses the density of larger animals such as deer, moose and coyotes within about a 200 meter range, to determine if they pose a danger, warn the driver and automatically brake the vehicle to mitigate a collision if the driver takes no action. These features are semi-autonomous, giving the driver full control of the vehicle at all times while using automatic control to assist when required.”

BEST NEW INNOVATION TECHNOLOGY for 2017
Mazda G-Vectoring Control (GVC) is the winner of the BEST NEW INNOVATION TECHNOLOGY FOR 2017.
“So subtle that most drivers won’t even be aware of the feature operating, G-Vectoring control enhances the vehicle’s feel of stability and smoothness by controlling engine power in almost imperceptible time frames to shift the weight balance of the car,” says Technology Panel Chair, Jim Kerr. “For passengers, the result is a comfortable and more relaxing ride. For drivers, GVC reduces small steering wheel inputs by almost 50% and provides a feeling of linear control of the steering on all types of roads and road surfaces.”

The awards are judged by a panel of 12 automotive journalists who are all technology specialists. As a first step, they independently reviewed overview briefs on all the technology entries submitted by automakers.

From that initial review, by secret vote, the jurors established a shortlist of finalists. Then, in early December, they convened in Toronto for a day of presentations by manufacturers’ representatives on each of their shortlisted entries and a chance to grille them with questions. The jurors then voted a second time, again by secret ballot.

As with the Canadian Car of the Year awards program, those votes were compiled by the accounting firm, KPMG and kept secret until the announcement today.

The “Best New Technology” awards are part of the association’s annual Canadian Car of the Year Awards program, created in 1985 to provide consumers with sound, comparative information on vehicles that are new to the market.

TORONTO, Dec. 6, 2016 /CNW/ – Eight “Best New” category winners were announced today by the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada, better known as AJAC. The results were tabulated by KPMG, the accounting firm that works with the association and its Canadian Car of the Year awards.

The eight “Best New” categories cover the full new-model spectrum, including Best New Small Car, Best New Sports/Performance Car, and Best New Utility Vehicle. Most of these core categories are then further broken down into Small, Large and Premium to cover a wide range of types of vehicles.

The vehicles named will now compete for the overall Canadian Car of the Year and Canadian Utility Vehicle of the Year honours, which will be announced at the Canadian International Auto Show in Toronto next February. AJAC will also announce the winners of its Canadian Green Car of the Year awards at the Vancouver International Auto Show in March.

The category winners represent the voting results by the largest group of Canada’s best-known automotive journalists, who gathered this October in Clarington, Ontario for a four-day test-drive evaluation of brand-new or significantly changed models. The event, known as “TestFest,” was hosted by Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, and welcomed Michelin, BF Goodrich, Canadian Black Book and the Steel Market Development Institute as partners, for this year’s program.

“TestFest is the most intensive new-vehicle evaluation process on the planet,” said Gary Grant, co-chair of the Canadian Car of the Year committee. “No other organization employs such stringent testing methods to determine its award winners.”

The rigorous testing program includes real-world driving on public roads, exactly where consumers drive, so the test data and vote results are directly relevant to potential car and utility vehicle buyers. The results are not based on the personal opinion of just one or two journalists. Instead, over 60 automotive journalists each drove vehicles in their categories back-to-back on the same day, under the same conditions, to ensure fair and objective comparisons.

“Our program is absolutely testing-based,” said Justin Pritchard, co-chair of the Canadian Car of the Year committee. “We have dozens of experienced vehicle testers driving dozens of vehicles, back to back, over the course of several days. This testing process generated 1,384 test drives, producing over 100,000 data points and 1058 category ballots. It’s important to note that every aspect of this testing data is shared online via our website, so shoppers can see how any given vehicle won its category, or how it stacked up to the category winner.”

Data driven and Canadian expertise: That’s what makes an AJAC winner.

And the winners are…..:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

WINNERS2017 CANADIAN CAR OF THE YEAR“BEST NEW” CATEGORY FINALISTS

BEST NEW SMALL CARHyundai Elantra, with 682 points, and scoring highest in Value.
2nd place Chevrolet Cruze with 680 points.
3rd place Subaru Impreza with 679 points.

BEST NEW LARGE CARVolkswagen Golf (Alltrack), with 680 points, and scoring highest in Exterior Styling, Throttle and Engine & Transmission Performance.2nd place Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid with 674 points.
3rd place Kia Optima HEV with 672 points.

BEST NEW LARGE PREMIUM CARBuick LaCrosse, with 656 points, and scoring highest in Fuel Efficiency.2nd place Volvo S90 with 655 points.
3rd place Mercedes-Benz E-Class (E 300 4MATIC) with 653 points.

BEST NEW SMALL UTILITYSubaru Forester, with 678 points, and scoring highest in Value, Off-Road Capability and Occupant Environnent.2nd place Ford Escape with 670 points.
3rd place Kia Sportage with 664 points.

BEST NEW LARGE UTILITYChrysler Pacifica, with 664 points, and scoring highest in Interior Styling, Occupant Environnent and Ride Dynamics.2nd place Mazda CX-9 with 663 points.
3rd place GMC Acadia with 634 points.

In addition to organizing the Canadian Car of the Year awards testfest event last month, I had also been tasked by a print editor to evaluate the small car category. Doing double duty means that I typically don’t have time to actually write about the cars during the event.

Unlike some of the old guard, paper note pads aren’t my thing. Instead, I use Google Keep, which allows me to keep great notes. It occurred to me while writing the story yesterday that it also allows me to share my scribbles with you.

In no particular order, here are my roadside observations of the vehicles entered in small car this year.

Historically, the event known at Testfest, where vehicles are evaluated for the Canadian Car of the Year awards is an uninterrupted week of vehicle evaluations. The Automobile Journalists Association of Canada switched things up a bit this year with the introduction of a panel of automotive executives.

Assembled by David Taylor and David Miller, the forum brought together five of the country’s brightest automotive minds to discuss their views of the future of the automobile. Moderated by veteran journalist Mark Richardson, the panel included David Patterson, Vice President of Corporate Affairs at General Motors of Canada, Wolfgang Hoffmann, President of Jaguar Land Rover Canada, Francois Lefevre, Nissan Canada’s Chief of marketing for Leaf, Don Romano, President CEO of Hyundai Canada and Ted Lancaster, Vice President & COO of Kia Canada.

There were lots of decent quotes to pull from, but the reality is that the entire discussion was legitimately interesting. Even if you don’t have interest in the business side of things, but have a passion for cars, the entire hour of the panel is worth watching.

Winter has arrived early here at Canada’s home of motorsport, with cold temperatures and a delightful mix of rain, sleet and snow pelting AJAC journalists this morning. Quite a change from yesterday, when skies were still bright and sunny.

Yours truly is featured in yesterday’s wrap up video, explaining why the Canadian Car of the Year program is such an important tool for Canadian consumers.

It is late October and that means that it is Testfest time in Ontario. The event is an annual gathering of the top automotive journalists from across Canada, who converge on Canadian Tire Motorsport Park evaluating vehicles.

The results of these evaluations are tabulated and then compiled along with objective data and performance testing data. The scores then determine the category winners.

Time for a bit of shameless self-promotion here in The Garage. Regular readers may know that I am a Co-Chairman of the Canadian Car of the Year awards. One of my responsibilities in that position is to put on a dress jacket once a year and announce one of the winners. This year, I was very proud to award Chrysler‘s Reid Bigland with the Canadian Utility Vehicle of the Year for the fantastic new Jeep Cherokee.

The awards are in January, so you might wonder why I am sharing this now. Well, I just came across this video of the entire ceremony, including yours truly doing my thing, which I hadn’t seen before. I thought it might be worth sharing on a Saturday morning.

When I began “working” in automotive media in 2001, I hoped that it might lead to my exit from the car industry. It has taken a long time, but between photography and freelance writing for publications like Autoblog Canada, that has gradually become a reality.

The next step is a big piece of the puzzle, as I have just been accepted as a member of the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada, otherwise known as AJAC. This likely won’t change things around The Garage Blog too much, other than a new logo beneath my name on our about page.

For new readers, this is an indication that we are a publication that can be trusted and takes our responsibility to our readers seriously. We have always endeavored to bring our readers quality content and reviews that mean something to car buyers and we will continue to do so.